


Twenty-Seven

by squirrelmort



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 14:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirrelmort/pseuds/squirrelmort
Summary: Victor is trying to decide what to do with his life when he sees Yuuri Katsuki perform his piece.





	

The buzzing of his phone woke Victor.  He rubbed his eyes.  _ Fell asleep on the couch again _ , he thought. He rolled his shoulders, trying to work out the soreness.  His head was killing him. The open bottle of vodka  on the kitchen table was the primary suspect. He never used to get hangovers. Or feel sore when he passed out on the couch. He also didn’t need alcohol to sleep when he was younger. But he also didn't spend all day dodging questions about retirement and his future. Was this how twenty-seven felt? Just days full of self-hatred and isolation and no real desire to live?

 

The phone buzzed again, pulling Victor out of his thoughts.  30 messages, 7 missed calls. Didn't they know it was his day off? 

 

_ Have you checked Twitter? _

 

_ Check twitter.  _

 

_ Have you seen the video yet? _

 

_ Have you watched this? _

 

Every message was more or less the same, telling him about some video. He got up, fed Makkachin, and grabbed a bottle of water from his fridge while the link loaded loaded. 

 

“[Katsuki Yuuri] Tried to Skate Victor’s FS Program [Stay Close to Me]”

 

Yuuri Katsuki… wasn't that the skater who totally failed last year? He shrugged to himself and hit play. This could be amusing. 

 

Katsuki stood on the ice. Yeah, Victor remembered him. The music started. It began well enough. Not surprising. Katsuki had always been good at the presentation side. Here come the first quad… He landed it. After the second quad Victor threw his phone against the pillow. 

 

He had worked so hard on that program. Four quads.  _ Four! _ It had taken  _ months _ to get that down. And now the kid who lost was doing it. He should just quit. 

 

With a sigh, Victor picked up his phone again, and entered “Yuuri Katsuki” into the search bar. Japanese skater, born Hasetsu… 23. He was only twenty-three. Victor poured vodka into his empty glass. 

 

He never even dreamed of drinking before noon when he was twenty-three. He pondered this momentarily as he downed it. He also never drank vodka straight back then. He only cried himself to sleep after a loss, and he never lost. Or when he remembered he would probably lose his entire career if he came out.He poured another glass, sipping this one more slowly while he paced around his room. 

 

Fuck… his knees didn’t feel like this when he was twenty-three. Maybe all the reporters were right. He should just retire. Twenty-seven was too old. Way past his prime. He could just coach. It’s not like performing was his entire life… Except it was. He had no skills outside skating. He avoided relationships so nobody would know he liked men. And if he became a coach he would still have to hide his sexuality, while also watching skaters do the one thing he really wanted to do. What was the point? He was a skater. That’s all he had ever been. All he could ever be. If he couldn’t skate, why do anything? Why live? 

 

_ No, stop _ . He wiped his tears on his sleeve, put his now empty glass in the sink, and picked up his phone again. He restarted the video. He watched as Yuuri Katsuki landed the lutz, perfectly. Next, the quadruple flip… There was a definite wobble in his landing Victor hadn’t noticed the first time. Victor lifted his arms so Makkachin could get up on his lap while he continued to watch the video.

 

Yuuri Katsuki did fine. Some of the timing wasn’t perfect, and one quad was only a triple, but it’s not like this was at a real competition. The video ended, so Victor started it again. And again. And yet again… Yuuri was good. He wasn’t perfect, but he had talent, and passion.  _ This is the type of skater I would like to coach _ .

 

Victor choked on air. Did he just admit he would like to coach? The video came to an end, and he hit replay. Yes, yes, he would like to coach, if the performer was Yuuri Katsuki. He had seen Yuuri perform before. And the one thing that he had noticed every time was how passionate he was. His emotion showed through. He was good but wasn’t necessarily the most talented skater ever, probably not as good as Yuri Plisetsky, but he had more drive than anyone. Who was his coach?

 

Victor opened his browser again. Yuuri had broke things off with his coach, presumably taking the season off.  _ What?! He’s twenty-three--he can’t take time off now! _ That’s it. This must be a sign. Victor could not ignore this. 

 

“Makkachin, it’s time to go,” Victor said, pushing his dog off so he could get up. He loaded up an airline site, and had selected a one-way flight to Kyushu by the time he found his wallet. A quiet part of his mind told him that moving to a different country, without even telling anyone, might not be the best idea. But a larger part said that if moving to Japan and meeting Yuuri didn’t get him out of this funk, remind him what it was like to be twenty-three and actually enjoy life, then nothing would. Staying in Russia certainly wasn’t helping. It was worth a shot. 

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who turns twenty-seven in a month and a half? And who also packed up and moved to Japan this past year? Yeah, this might've been partially inspired by me. And also listening to Michael Phelps talk about his depression when he stopped swimming.


End file.
